Sunday Morning Weigh-in

Stats:
Highest Weight: 315
Start Weight: 1/1/2011 305
Tufts Start Weight- May 2011: 285
Surgery Weight-7/5/2011: 265
Weight last Sunday Weigh-in: 182
Current Weight: 181
Goal Weight: 170ish
Lbs. lost this week: 1
Total loss from Start Weight: 124 LBS.!!

Hey all-
Mike asked me to post the Sunday Morning Weigh-in this week as he is not privy to internet access this weekend.

So, one pound down this week for me. Extremely busy with work and household chores and I shipped the wife and kids off to FLA for school vacation Thu. P.M.. Only one trip to the gym and a nice beach walk/sprint yesterday (a little windy though lots of sun)- maybe another one today from the initial looks of things outside this morning.

Some people have expressed shock when they see me and I tell them I am shooting for another 10 lbs. down- "OMG, haven't you lost enough already??" Maybe I have and just don't know it yet. When I examine my profile in the mirror I think a little more won't be so bad, but it's hard to tell with the extra skin around the ponch area. I saw my dermatologist this week and she was convinced it was all skin but wasn't bad enough to get surgically removed. Obviously it is way too early to be addressing that subject. Except maybe for the Turkey Chin.

Being a bachelor for a bit has entertained thoughts of my old bad habits- like getting ****faced in a nightclub and coming home and eating the fridge at 1:30 a.m. but I am not interested this time around- OK maybe a lap dance or two- now that I actually have a lap!!! LOL

Have a great week and I'll be lurking here daily as I always do.

Tim T.

 

 Hi Fellas,

Great job Tim! Thanks for carrying the torch this week. Good for you staying away from the "bad" habits as a bachelor!

My Stats:

High weight: 296
Weight at initial consult 1-19-2012: 269
Last week: 255
This week: 250

Five more down this week... I have been pretty disciplined with portions and counting calories, and I guess it is paying off. Was off the wagon on Valentines as my wife took me out to eat, I used up a few of those calories I had saved! Made a call to my DR asking for progress update and they forgot about me... "very busy at the office". A little aggravated that I am pushing hard on my end to get my stuff done but they are in no hurry... They dropped on me that I needed a letter from my PCP recommending me for and endorsing the surgery even though I already have a referral in place from him??? Another week lost because he is on vacation... had I known about it I could have already had it done.  :-(

Still excited to get the party started though and feeling great. Lots of comments re: the pounds lost. My closest male friend was hilarious when I told him I was getting the surgery: He said he hoped I would still be the same person only smaller! It's a good thing a loss of weight does not equal a loss of character or personality!

Have a great week and keep up the good work you losers!

I think your friends comment is hilarious!  The funny part for me is about 2 weeks before I started telling everyone that I was having surgery, there were several of us standing around at work talking and one of the guys had the most hilarious thing to say.  He said "you know, when people go from fat to skinny, they become ********".  Then he looks at me and says, "Take you for example... You are one of the best and most fun people to be around, but if you were to get skinny, you would become an asshole and no one would like you."  I took that opportunity to laugh my ass off and then tell him that I was having WLS.  He turned red and got extremely embarrassed.  Now, he is one of the most outspoken about how good I am looking and has told several other people (who have then come and talked to me about it) that they shoudl have WLS like me.  Two of the four people he has been telling this two have appointments with my surgeon!

I just think it is funny.  However, I think it is probably grounded in some truth.  If you look at the statements alot of people make on here, they talk about how they are now more outspoken and live for themselves instead of putting everyone else first.  I think that may be part of it.  I think the other part may be based on the whole changes in hormones and such.  Either way, I think it may be true for some people that they "change" but not for me.  I am the same person I was before, just take up less square footage when I am in the room!

Best of luck, and keep losing!

 Hi Crijguy,  

     Interesting exchange you had with an ignorant co-worker... He should have been embarrassed.
     

     You can't judge the apple by looking at the tree,
     You can't judge the honey by looking at the bee,
     You can't judge the daughter by looking at the mother,
     Oh no, you can't judge a book by looking at the cover!

(from an old Bo Diddly tune)

     Taken from a close friend I can make light of the comment... but, from those who are co-workers or other distant acquaintances it brings up interesting attitudes many folks have towards us large folks...  I am the jovial, easy going fat guy who people like however there are other negative assumptions people make too. I once had a boss tell me if she wasn't so desperate to fill the position she never would have hired me because I was fat! Not because I couldn't do the job, or had poor references, but because of my size, to my face...  LOL.  I then asked her if she knew me then like she knows me now would she have hired me, answer was no. Big balls on that one.  I too will be the same after I downsize, but I don't think I will be able to forget the old me who was judged long before people got to know me. For those who are now a shadow of their former selves: do people treat you differently now on first meeting you?

To me, this is one of the most interesting topic about WLS. The attitude of others and of ourselves is sometimes difficult to understand much less justify.

To be entirely honest, I would have to say that I was never comfortable about being around someone as big as I was. Even at 407 lbs, I did not identify as fat and did not want to be around people who might cause me to be labeled as fat. It was in my head, though, I never had a real self image...if I had, I might never have gained the weight I did.

As for how I'm treated by others now, there is a real difference. I am treated with more respect, smiles and simple pleasantries than ever before. I never get the feeling now that someone is looking at me as stupid or weak. I look back at my periods of job searches and realize now that I was likely held back by my weight and did not get fair treatment when I began the personal interview process, even though previous phone screenings and testing results were very positive.

Is it right? No. But I'm not certain we can do a lot about it except try to correct the stereotypes in our own minds and to do our best to become less discriminatory ourselves. I'm working on it. I'd like to think that not only did I lose some weight, but that the overall experience is helping me to become a better person in general. But, I guess that is yet to be seen. However, i am committed to continue to work toward that goal.

To throw out another angle of this issue you mention, Ken, I have found myself judging other folks lately...  I am ashamed to say that I always thought how bad it was when other folks judged based on appearance (especially when they judged me) but now I am doing it.  

Example:  I was talking to a coworker who had started asking me about WLS and I told him all about it.  After doing some research on his own, the decided it would be too hard and dropped the issue.  Next thing I know, he has put on another 20 or so lbs.  Lots of judging on my part about what a failure that was on his part.

Then I get to thinking about it, I start to feel horrible!  Am I not any different than the other folks I used to judge.  This is the second time I have found myself doing this.  The first time was after I stopped smoking.  Then I found myself harassing smoking friends about how bad it is... 

What an interesting thing, this human mind.  Knowing these things go on in my own mind, I try like hell to not judge the other folks and hold it against them for doing that to me.  Yeah, it bothered me that the guy from work had the preconcieved notion that my personality would change (for the worse) if I lost weight, but am I any better?  

Just a thought...

Guilty myself of looking at obese folks in a negative way since loosing weight so I throw myself on the mercy of the court.  Have to keep in check the urge to start "preaching" about WLS still.  Like my nose the way it is!  

 Great thread going guys.  I am guily of judging but have also become even more compassionate to overweight people I see because I know the constant battle that they are going through with life in general.  If give the opportunity I sing the praises of WLS but have not yet volunteered it without being asked first.  Still not that outpsoken yet.  I do notice that society in general treats me way differently now as Ken says with more smiles and just an overall good feeling.  Kind of sad in a way but feels good!

Funny, I was watching a DVR'ed version of 30 Rock last night and Alec Baldwin was walking through New York City in character and passes by an overweight 30 something and just happens to comment something to the effect would it hurt you to do a pushup because my tax dollars are paying for your healthcare!  Just thought that it was a perfect commentary on this thread...

 Lots of good commentary on this subject for sure. I am guilty too, but for a different section of folks... I am overweight and have compassion for those like me, I have struggled with mental illness and have compassion for those like me. I have never suffered an addiction and come from a family of addicted people... It was addiction to alcohol and cigarettes that made my growing up a mess and that took parts of my family from me, I have never used either to excess and need to show more compassion for those struggling with these habits. It is hard to do though because of how these addictions formed who I am...  Did that make any sense? Hopefully when I reach my goal weight I never forget where I came from. I am way too private a person to talk about WLS with anyone, I think outside my immediate family only 2 others know I am going down this path.

This whole conversation thread is very interesting. We, all of us having been discriminated against to some degree, admitting that we are now guilty of what hurt us all in the past, and continues to hurt others and perhaps ourselves today. It only goes to show just how ingrained the prejudice against heavy people is.

I applaud everyone who admits to this and hope that we can all find a way to get past it. Perhaps we are guilty, but we do at least recognize that we are not behaving in the way we'd like to think we should. We really can't expect others to be more understanding when we ourselves have not achieved that. (damn, that's deep)